A Western Cape Disaster Management team, who volunteered assistance during the recent devastating floods in  Kwazulu-Natal, has been recognised for their selfless service.

The MEC of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell this morning, 29 July, hosted his Kwazulu-Natal counterpart, MEC Sipho Hlomuka, at the Western Cape Disaster Management Centre, to hand over certificates of recognition to the team.

MEC Hlomuka had indicated his desire to personally thank the individual rescue workers.

MEC Bredell says it’s important for rescue teams from the Western Cape to participate in real life scenarios and disasters, because it also provides them with an opportunity to learn.

Between 8 April to 12 April record-breaking rains resulted in flooding that washed away infrastructure, land, houses, and livelihoods. The storm of April 11 dumped nearly 300mm of rain in just over 24 hours and became the deadliest to hit South Africa in recent history.

Sadly, 435 people lost their lives and a number of people are still missing.

A total of 19,113, households with 128,743 people have been affected by the disaster.

President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the KZN floods as a national state of disaster on 18 April to maximize national and provincial coordination to respond to urgent crisis in affected communities.

The damage to the region is estimated at R25 billion.